Unionised US Apple Store Proposes Asking for Tips
Picture this: You’ve dropped your iPhone and shattered its screen for the second time. You rush to your nearest Apple Store for repairs, and the team at the Genius Bar returns your phone to you within hours, but with a hefty bill. As you prepare to make the payment, you notice a new option on the check-out menu: Would you like to add a tip?
This may soon become a reality. Employees at the first unionized Apple Store in the US are proposing to provide customers with the option to tip for service. The proposal has sparked debate about tipping culture in the United States and so-called “tipping fatigue.”
In a series of tweets, the union acknowledged that the idea could be “a little controversial.” “Apple employees everywhere can tell you that they are already being offered tips by customers,” said the union representing the store in suburban Baltimore.
Currently, if an Apple employee accepts a tip, he or she could be fired. The new proposal would create a system that allows “occasional” customers to reward the team without fear of termination, according to the Union. Any funds collected through tips would be split among team members, and the tipping scheme proposed would offer customers options ranging from “no tip, 3%, 5%, custom amount.”
But the proposed tipping scheme has faced backlash on social media, with many noting that tips are generally offered to workers who make low hourly wages. Etiquette expert Thomas Farley warned that technology is driving this “tipping invasion,” with more companies adopting digital payment systems, like Square and Toast, prompting consumers to add a tip after completing a transaction.
Farley believes that businesses have used the prospect of tips to entice workers in a tight labor market instead of offering higher wages. These workers make less than minimum wage and rely on tips to make a living. “Just because it’s there on a screen doesn’t mean you have to [tip], although I know hitting ‘no tip’ makes you feel like Scrooge,” he said.
